Violin, mandolin, and other stringed musical instrument.



W. C. CLOPTON.

VIOLIN, MANDOLIN, AND OTHER STRINGED MUSICAL INSTRUMENT,

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 12. I916.

1 272,0 1 1 Patented July 9, 1918.

um mmlmmnuual iu PATENT WILLIAM C. CLOPTON, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

VIOLIN, MANDOLIN, AND OTHER STRINGED MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

Application filed December 12, 1916.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM C. C-Lor'roN, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of St. Louis, in the State of Missouri, have invented a certain new and useful Device or Improvement in Violins, Mandolins, and other Stringed Musical Instruments, the prime object of which is to improve the tone and volume of the violin and perfect its balance and rythmic qualities and also to improve in this respect all stringed musical instruments of the violin and mandolin families when scientifically constructed, as illustrated in the drawings accompanying this specification.

Figure 1 presents a drawing of a violin with the top removed and the bar in a per manent position, as seen where one end is let into the block at the neck end of the instrument at the point A, and the other end of the same dimensions let into the block at the lower end of the instrument at the point B, the letter 0 indicating the peg to which the tail-piece of a violin is fastened.

Fig. 2 presents a drawing of the bar itself ready to be placed thus in position in the air chamber of the instrument.

The invention consists in the construction of a bar of the requisite length, width, thickness and resilience, herein designated a stabilizer, and installing the same longitudinally in the air chamber of the instrument as illustrated for violins in the drawings. The bar is made of seasoned spruce, or it may consist of other material of suthcient resilience, the proportions of which for the violin are, approximately stated, about onefourth inch wide and one-fourth inch thick, the ends of which are enlarged or widened for a bearing surface, and of the requisite length; these proportions being necessarily increased or reduced for sutlicient strength and elasticity to meet the requirements made necessary by the size of the instrument in which the bar is to be fitted. One end of the bar is closely inserted about one-sixteenth of an inch deep into the block at or near its center which is located at the upper end of the instrument against which the base of the neck is mortised on the opposite side as seen at point A, Fig. 1; and the other end of the bar being practically of the same dimensions is likewise closely inserted to the same depth into the block at the lower or butt end of the instrument (and may Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 9, 1918.

Serial No. 136,441.

partly rest against the point of the inserted peg U, which holds the tailpiece), as illustrated in Fig. 1, B. After one end of the bar is let into the upper block at A, opposite the base of the neck as described (the top plane or belly of the instrument being removed for this operation), the other end must be let into its socket in the lower block at B by forcing it down into a permanent position through a slot made by the extension of the socket upward for this purpose to the top of the block, into which slot above the end of the bar must afterward be mortised a mite of wood glued closely in place to hold the end of the bar in an immovable and permanent position, as illustrated in Fig. 1, B.

This invention or device increases the vibration or sensitiveness of the instrument, and improves its brilliancy and sound volume. It perfects its balance and harmony, and relieves it of all flats, or false notes called \volfs, which are encountered by all soloists and performers in the G string, giving to it the tonal perfection of the higher strings E and A, and producing a perfect harmonic effect in all the strings. In working to this end the inventor discovered that the vibration in the upper plate of the violin when tuned to concert pitch was not uniform in line and distribution, which was caused by the tension being much greater on the E than on the G side of the thin top shell of the instrument, thereby causing an oblique strain particularly on this soft upper plate, which prevented an equal and uniform response in all the strings and caused the wolfs or false notes in the lower strings.

The bar corrects this patent defect; so when the instrument is tuned up to concert pitch the great tension produced by the four strings on the body of the instrument is now conveyed in part to the bar which shares inresisting and equalizing this pressure, thus giving a steady and continu-- ous support to the upper and lower plates. This bar does not alter or interfere in any respect with the basic construction of the violin, or its adjustments made by means of the bridge, bass-bar and sound post, and like the bass-bar when fitted and installed in the instrument it becomes a permanent adjunct, and will improve the tone of the same.

Having thus described my invention What I claim as being original and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is to Wit; 7

A violin as heretofore'made' and adjusted comprising a body with the usual interior end blocks fitted With a bar set longitudinally in the air chamber thereof and extending from the one block to the other, the block at the neck end being provided with a vertical socket of greater length than Width, and having closed ends; the other or butt end block" being provided With a;

vertical slot ofgreat'er length than the'depth of'the-end of the bar set therein, together- With meansfor closing: the slot abovethe" bar to hold the end securely in position; the bar consisting of a strip of resilient material of uniformthickness and enlarged or wider ends closely fitting the slots Without rigidly adhering thereto, and having a- In testimony whereof I hereunto aflix my,

signature in the presence of two Witnesses.

WILLIAM G. OILOPTON'.

'Witnessesz j ANDREW CUNNINGHAM,

JoHN'G. GREEN; 

